Hobart | Community organisation

Hobart

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24.01.2022 Thanks to Alexandra Humphries for her opinion piece in today's Examiner. However there is one correction; our worst estimate for a fast rail link between Hobart and Launceston is $2.2 billion - and our BEST estimate for a dual-lane carriageway between the two centres is $3.6 billion! Our worst estimate for the highway was $5.3 billion (based on an average 20% blowout from budget). Yes these are rough estimates but they are based on costs incurred by other projects in the state and the average cost of rail projects on the mainland.

23.01.2022 Queensland Rail's electric Tilt Train. Holder of the Australian Rail Speed Record, 210km/h. Most significantly, it runs on the same 'narrow' gauge as Tasmania's railways - 1067mm or 3'6".

22.01.2022 Why are we opposed to the Four-Lane Highway? A four lane highway brings: - No guarantee of reduced road crashes (approximately 10% of serious crashes are head on in Tasmania. Obviously not even all of those are on the section of highway in question) - 4 lane highway ensures increased CO2 emissions from transport - 4 lane highway makes it much harder for TasRail to grow its freight business... - 4 lane highway is inefficient land use a single rail line occupies far less space than a highway - 4 lane highway guarantees Tasmania is locked in to car dependence & oil price vulnerability - 4 lane highway guarantees increased road maintenance cost with no guarantee that this can be maintained any better than current highway, odds are that over time, it will be worse. - Its only real benefits: increased average speed for road users & safer to overtake heavy vehicles. RATHER THAN SPEND AT LEAST $3.6b INSTEAD... HIGH SPEED RAIL; - Easily beats the biggest benefit the highway offers it can be even faster! (up to 200km/h). - Guarantees reduced road crashes due to reduced road use. - Enables reduced heavy vehicle use due to rail freight’s increased competitiveness. - Guarantees reduction in CO2 emissions (even a small reduction is better than an increase). - Can reduce travel time between Tasmania’s largest centres (approx 350,000 people) by as much as 1 hour (fastest travel time by road no greater than 2 hours, average time probably 2.45 hours. - Lower capital cost. - Connects communities highways are not noted for bringing communities together. See more

20.01.2022 How much more value could TasRail add if; We had heritage trains running on their tracks? If we had a commuter rail service from Hobart's CBD to the Northern Suburbs? If Tasrail re-opened the Derwent Valley Railway and allowed the Derwent Valley Railway Tasmania to run their trains again, and also used the line to shift forestry products? If Tasrail re-opened the North-East line to Scottsdale, the line to Smithton and transported agricultural, dairy and forestry products from... those areas? Well done to Tasrail for showing us the value of what we have. But we think this should be just the beginning! #PriorityRail See more

19.01.2022 We could be using the railway right now

17.01.2022 We know why Australia is so far behind. It is simply political will, and the mistaken belief that we need more roads.

15.01.2022 This isn't related to a fast train from Hobart to Launceston (or anywhere for that matter), but rather our Australian rail heritage. This locomotive was the last 'Streamliner' nose locomotive built in the world. It hauled the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth and other services around the Australian standard gauge network. It is currently earmarked for the scrap yard with its spare parts to be sent to Africa. If you can spare even a few dollars that will help, every little bit counts. Just sharing on this page to help spread the word to all. Thank you

15.01.2022 Highways do not bring communities together. They separate, divide and reduce them. We're not sure of the cost of the Perth Bypass at this time but it must be around $150 million or more. To save just a few minutes of travel. So that you can keep doing 110km rather than have to slow to 60 or 50km for a short time. Is that truly worth it? Is the time saved worth that money? Is it worth the businesses that may close because people will no longer go through the town? What happens... when they bypass Campbell Town? Bagdad? How much more money will those bypasses cost? How many jobs will be lost when they are finished? You might save ten minutes of travel time. Yay See more

13.01.2022 If the North East Railway is ripped up, it will never come back, no matter what the bicycle trail advocates may say. Once it is gone, the chance to remove heavy trucks from rural road,s that they should never have been allowed on in the first place, will be gone. The tourism opportunity that the Launceston & North East Railway is advocating for will also be gone too. We must keep our railway lines and work to reopening them, both to allow tourism opportunities and also to work towards getting more heavy freight off the roads and on to the tracks where it is safer for everyone. Please sign.

13.01.2022 If a new road bridge is to be built over the river at Bridgewater, a new rail bridge could and should also be built.

11.01.2022 Not talking about fast rail specifically but some points worth thinking about

11.01.2022 Interesting point. Charles G says "Fast rail between the cities would not only be an infrastructure project, but also a social change project." Do you think that halving the travel time and increasing the convenience for people going north or south would also help remove this infamous North-South divide? If something is much closer to you in travel time terms, would it actually feel closer? Let us know what you think! http://www.themercury.com.au//comments-fnj4f7k1-1227241882

09.01.2022 An excerpt from the Legislative Council inquiry into Tasrail: "Mr ARMSTRONG - What is the gauge of Tasmania's rail? Mr ANNELLS - It is narrow gauge. Mr FARRELL - Three foot six inches. Mr ANNELLS - Thank you, Mr Farrell, very kind of you. I was stumped. Not wide enough was the short answer."... Mr Annells is the Chairman of Tasrail's Board of Directors. Below is an Aurizon coal train hauled by electric locomotives. These trains run daily in Queensland. Some of them have a total weight of around 10,000 tonnes! All of this.... on the same 'narrow' gauge as we have here in Tasmania. Its hard to see how the width of the track is really the problem...

09.01.2022 Here in Australia our fastest trains only have a service speed of 160km/h - slower than the first 'Shinkansen' trains in 1964.

09.01.2022 If you don't want to see the NE rail line ripped up, NEVER to return, with no chance to ever remove heavy trucks from the narrow roads in the region, and no chance for heritage rail groups like the Launceston & North East Railway to run trains to Scottsdale, please follow the link to the Examiner and VOTE for RAIL!

07.01.2022 Almost anything is possible. It is just that some things require a very different and forward-thinking vision

06.01.2022 Not to do with Fast Rail, but trying to save some of Tasmania's old diesel-electric locomotives from scrap. They served our state for over forty years, I think we should keep at least some of them. I know diesels don't spark the imagination like steam locomotives, but they are still a part of our history. Please help Diesel Traction Tasmania save some of these locos (they are up for auction to scrap merchants very soon, so we have little time).

05.01.2022 Indeed it is a waste

05.01.2022 It is roads that are always more expensive than first thought (or budgeted for)

02.01.2022 Indeed why are we still waiting?

01.01.2022 By the end of this year many of TasRail's old locomotives will be gone. Many have already been withdrawn. Diesel Traction Tasmania is a new preservation group dedicated to saving these old locomotives from the scrapheap (many are over 40 years old!). Buy one of their calendars and help them out. See also www.dieseltractiontasmania.com Also, we've been advised freight trains on the Hobart-Bridgewater railway line will cease in just over a week's time, 22nd of June.